Linux Pocket Guide, 2nd Edition

Name

head — stdin  stdout  - file  -- opt  --help  --version

Synopsis

head [options] [files]

The head command prints the first 10 lines of a file: great for previewing the contents.

$ head myfile
$ head * | less            Preview all files in the current directory

It’s also good for previewing the first few lines of output from a pipeline:

$ grep 'E' very-big-file | head

Useful options

-N	Print the first N lines instead of 10.
-n N	Print the first N lines instead of 10.
-c N	Print the first N bytes of the file.
-q	Quiet mode: when processing more than one file, don’t print a banner above each file. Normally, head prints a banner containing the filename.